Monday 25 January 2016

Elementary OS Freya, Resizing Windows, keyboard shortcuts and other annoying stuff

One of the most frustrating things about Elementary OS Freya is that it 'native' application windows cannot be easily resized by dragging on a side or corner. With most Linux distributions you can simply hover the mouse over an edge or a corner, click and drag to resize.  With Elementary OS there is just nothing there to grab.

Most windows have the traditional window border and the usual method works, but not the native Elementary programs.  And in certain other programs, like the GUI designer 'glade' shown below.  As it opens I cannot use the interface to add widgets etc to a GUI design.


It can be done however!   By holding down the 'Windows key' (the one between the left side CTRL and ALT keys) and holding down the right mouse button on the edge or corner of the window.


Freya has a lot of annoying little quirks.  But so far it has been the most stable, forgiving and almost crash proof 'modern' Linux distribution I have ever used.  But many of the functions we have come to expect to be easily available are hidden away and some only seem to be accessible as keyboard shortcuts.

Here is a list of common keyboard shortcuts in Elementary OS Freya.

⌘+Space  App Launcher
Alt+Tab  Window Switcher
⇧+Alt+Tab  Switch Windows Backwards
⌘+W  Window Overview
⌘+A  Window Overview (Across All Workspaces)
⌘+Left/Right  Switch Workspace
⌘+S  Workspace Overview
⌘+0  New Workspace
⇧+⌘+Left/Right  Move Window with Workspace
Ctrl+⌘+Left/Right  Snap Window to Half of Workspace
Ctrl+⌘+Up/Down  Maximize/Unmaximize Window
⌘+L  Lock Screen
⌘+Click+Drag    Move Window
⌘+Secondary (Right mouse button) click+Drag  Resize Window

 = Super (Windows or Command key),
 = Shift

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